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arXiv:2305.07155 · Optics Letters

Random number generation using spontaneous symmetry breaking in a Kerr resonator

Liam Quinn, Gang Xu, Yiqing Xu, Zongda Li, Julien Fatome, Stuart G. Murdoch, Stéphane Coen, Miro J. Erkintalo

Published Jun 6, 2023• 22 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We demonstrate an all-optical random number generator based on spontaneous symmetry breaking in a coherently driven Kerr resonator. Random bit sequences are generated by repeatedly tuning a control parameter across a symmetry-breaking bifurcation that enacts random selection between two possible steady-states of the system. Experiments are performed in a fiber ring resonator, where the two symmetry-broken steady-states are associated with orthogonal polarization modes. Detrimental biases due to system asymmetries are suppressed by leveraging a recently discovered self-symmetrization phenomenon that ensures the symmetry-breaking dynamics act as an unbiased coin toss, with a genuinely random selection between the two available steady-states. We optically generate bits at a rate of 3 MHz without post-processing and verify their randomness using the National Institute of Standards and Technology and Dieharder statistical test suites.

DOI
10.1364/ol.493731

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